A Gull's Festival: Coastal Exploration By Goat Rock Beach at Sonoma Coast State Park

Date: February 18, 2024

Place: Sonoma Coast State Park, Jenner, California

Coordinates: 38.442170, -123.124466

Length: 2 miles

Level: easy

The afternoon of Saturday February 17 turned out to be really stormy. After a nice morning hike at the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve the storm rolled in and we passed the rest of the day sight seeing along the coast from Jenner to Fort Ross, under intense rain and strong winds. The storm raged for most of the night but on Sunday morning the rain had stopped. We drove to Jenner again, where the Russian River spills into the Pacific Ocean and went to Sonoma Coast State Park to see what we would find there. We drove all the way in to the Goat Rock parking area. The road to Goat Rock Beach was barred off - I assumed beach vehicle access was seasonal. There were people down there at the beach, but all f them have parked up where we were and walked down. We decided to do the same. 

From the parking we had a very nice view of the coastline, both north and south. Off shore were a number of rock islands, and the biggest one featured a beautiful arch carved by the incessant waves. 

View south from Goat Rock parking area

Pappa Quail got a nice zoomed in photo of Arch Rock. It was almost hypnotic to look at the waves crushing one by one through and around the arch. 

Arch Rock

The recent rain resulted in a lot of runoff surface water, and activated a thin waterfall that dropped down from the cliff to the sandy beach below. That part of the beach wasn't accessible, at least not by normal walking. 

Goat Rock Beach however, was accessible, It is on the west side of a thin peninsula that separated the Russian River estuary from the ocean. From high above the incoming waves looked tame and very regular. They were, however, quite high, as we discovered after we camr down to the beach itself. 

View north on Goat Rock Beach 

We locked the car, passed around the closed vehicle gate, and started walking the paved road  down to the beach. 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

Right away I noticed irises blooming by the roadside. There was a fence there two, and a house not too far from the fence. I thought these might be cultivated irises but then Pappa Quail pointed at them and asked if these were Douglas irises. I looked again, and sure enough, they were. Completely wild, California native, Douglas iris flowers. 

Douglas Iris, Iris douglasiana

Pappa Quail was soon paying attention to other things, like the gulls that flew over our heads. There were many gulls on Goat Rock beach that day, but most of them were sitting down on the sand or floating on the river. 

About half way down we got a nice view northeast to the Russian River and the small, quaint town behind it - the town of Jenner. 

Jenner

We continued down the road toward the beach. Ahead of us was the river mouth. I could imagine this beach was very popular in summer, but at the time there were only very few people down below. 

Russian River Mouth

Still up on the hill the soil isn't salty, the water is fresh, and the plants growing there were typical of the California coast scrub. By the Goat Rock Beach Road that plant community included also a lot f poison oak. On the bushes crept the coast man-root vine which is also one of the early blooming plants. 

Coast Man-root, Marah oregana 

On the other side of the road was a mass of willows, more bushes than trees. The willows were still bare of leaves but they were already in full bloom. 

Coulter Willow, Salix sitchensis 

We reached the bottom and after a brief discussion decided to turn left (south) and go directly to the Goat Rock, and check out the beach after that. The pavement continued all the way to the Goat Rock and on the land side of the road was a one wind-swept Monterey cypress tree.

Monterey cypress, Hesperocyparis macrocarpa

A little further towards the road to the Goat Rock continued right below the coastal cliff we just come down from. The cliff was steep and no trees or bushes grew on it, but it was covered with lower vegetation, some of which was blooming. 

Common Buttercup, Ranunculus californicus 

Turning around the cliff corner we got a nice view of the Goat Rock (and far behind it, the Arch Rock). We could see that there was a parking area right before the rock itself - a parking area that wasn't visible from the high view point where we started our hike. We continued down the road to get there. 

Goat Rock

I love watching waves. The endless variations of similar dynamics hypnotizes me. That entire hike I had my eyes on the waves crashing on the shore. Sometimes it was the rip going back to the ocean that made a lovey pattern of foam. 

The paved road ended in a small parking lot from which we could walk right o Goat Rock and touch it, and also see the Arch Rock. 

Arch Rock View

Pappa Quail stayed on the inner part of the parking area. He looked for birds but there was only a single raven there, so he took yet another close up photo of Arch Rock. 

Arch Rock

I approached Goat Rock but there was not much to see on the rock itself. There was some vegetation at the bottom of the rock but none of it was blooming. 

Goat Rock

I did get close enough to the raven to take a photograph of him myself. Perhaps he posed hoping for some food from me, I don't know.

Raven

The view of the coastline to the south looked even more powerful from sea level viewpoint. Something about the waves and the lighting and the Arch Rock looming in the horizon rather than looked down upon, all that added to my excitement of being there. I loved that view.

In contrast, the view of the coastline on the north seemed much gentler, softer. The angle of the sunlight had a great deal to do with it.

From the angle of which I was looking at the waves I could se a faint rainbow illuminated in the spray above the breaking waves. I even managed to capture a bit of this colors display.

I was busy still with trying to capture the breakers rainbow when Pappa Quail had already advanced along the road back to Goat Rock Beach. Satisfied at last with my results, I rushed after him. On the way back to the beach I noticed that the beach strawberries were in bloom.

Beach Strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis

We passed the uphill turn and continued straight to the dune-barred beach. A danger sign listing the risks of going into the water welcomed us. We had no intention of getting into the freezing cold water even in a calm day, let along now that the ocean was so none-pacific.

Pappa Quail rushed ahead. He already noticed a large group of gulls sitting near the river mouth next to what looked like a pile of large pebble rocks. There was a large log in the way - a log that was stuck in the sand. It was so long I think it might have been a redwood tree once.

There were very few other people on the beach. Soon we passed most of them and had a clear, people-free view at the river mouth and the north side of the coastline. The ocean waves rolled right into the river creating turbulence. Alarge group of gulls were engaged in a fun activity: they landed in the river somewhat upstream and floated with the fast stream all the way down to the river mouth where the turbulence and the waves prompted them to take into the air, only to land once again in the water and float back to the river end. They repeated this cycle again and again, and seemed to be enjoying it a great deal. It was the gull version of a waterpark's lazy river, I guess. I tried taking a video of this activity, but it came out too blurry. 

From a closer distance we saw that the large pebble rocks were not rocks at all, but a group of harbor seals having their siesta. 

We didn't get any closer. Disturbing resting seals isn't a good idea. Pappa Quail however, had a strong zoom lens and he got a nice close up photo without getting any closer to the seals.

Harbor Seals

I couldn't have enough of the coastline views, especially of the waves crashing onto the sand. I saw that the clouds were gathering and I remembered that the forecast predicted the storm to go on for the entire weekend, but for now we enjoyed the bliss of the sun on the beach. 

Goat Rock Beach, view south

A long cement bar extended into the water, possibly a relic of an old dock. Pappa Quail went on it to get a better view of the gulls that were playing in the river and after he came down I went on it as well to take a look. The gulls were of less interest to me. More so was the north coastline with the rock islands that protruded from the water like kraken's teeth. 

I did take a photo of the cloud of gulls as the playful group took to the air at the river mouth, only to land once again in the water upstream and start sliding back to the ocean. Pappa Quail identified a mix of species - California gulls, western gulls, Heermann's gulls, glaucous gulls, ring billed gulls, and for sure I forgot some names.

Western gulls were probably the most common gull species in the mix. We did see some of them who didn't join the festival but simply stood or sat apart, eyeing the world around them with apparent boredom. 

Western Gull

We swang by the river for a bit to see if there were any other birds there but gulls, but Pappa Quail didn't see anything apecial there, so we started heading back toward the road leading uphill. 

Russian River

I loved seeing the beachgrass moving in the wind. It reminded me the sea of grass I saw a few years ago when we hiked at Tolowa Dunes State Park by Crescent City up north. This grass however, is an invasive species in California. 

Since we approached the access road from a different direction now, I got to see the baby blue eyes flowers blooming up the hill side, of a species I haven't seen on my way down earlier. 

Baby Blue Eyes, Nemophila menziesii var. atomaria 

This lovely hike felt more like a beach stroll than a hike, so I was surprised that all and all we hiked about two miles down by Goat Rock. Since the predicted rain hasn't started yet and the weather was agreeable, we decided to try hiking one other of the park's trails so we drove off to the end of Goat Rock Road to our next trail of choice.